Refining-machine for coffee and the like.



H. L. JOHNSTON.

BEFINING MACHINE FOR COFFEE AND THE LIKE. APPLICATION FILED 11212.30,1910 1,080,066. Patented Dec. 2, 1913.

I UNITED STATES PATENT our-ion HERBEBT L. JOHNSTON, OF TROY, OHIO,ASSIGNOR TO THE HOBART ELECTRIC MANUFACTURING-COMPANY, OF TROY, OHIO, ACORPORATION OF OHIO.

Specification ofiLetters Patent.

'PatentedDec. 2, 1913.

Application filed April 30, 1910. Serial No. 558,617.-

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, HERBERT L. J ormsron,

a citizen of the United States, and-a resident of the city ',of Troy, inthe county of Miami and State (if-Ohio, have invented certain new and'usefu'l Improvements in Refinin lidachiries" for Coffee and the like, ofwhicfi thezfollowin isia full, clear, and exact description, ref erencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification. I

The object of my invention is to provide a simple, cheap and effectiveapparatus for removing the chaff and dust-from ground coffee, which willreceive the coffee direct from' the grinder, and the invention consistsvof that-certain novel construction and arrangement of parts to behereinafter particularly pointed out and claimed, whereby thegroundcofiee while passing through the apparatus may be effectuallyspread out and subjected to a uniform and evenly distributed air blastto separate the dust and chafi', and at the same time the blast of'airmay. be properly regulated and controlled without disturbing the uniformsuction of the exhaust blower.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a central vertical section of my improvedapparatus partly in elevation. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a portionof the apparatus.

1 is a funnel with discharge spout 2 preferably mounted in verticalposition to close the upper end of a cylindrical tube or con} duit 3,The lower end of this" conduit is provided with a flaring mouth A, andinside of this flaring mouth'is suitably secured a cone 5, the apex 6 ofwhichiextends into the central portion of the-discharge end oftheconduit. The inclination of the sides of the cone with reference 'tothe flaring end of the conduit and the diameter of the cone are sodesigned that the annular passage 7 be tween the cone and flaring wallsof the conduit is gradually restricted toward the outlet 8 from theconduit.

Surrounding the upper end of the conduit 3-is a chamber, 9, which on onesideis connected by the tube 10 with the exhaust blower 11, of whichblower the casing 12 is alone illustrated,"inasmuch as any desiredconstruction of blowermay be employed, the fans of which are driven bypulley 13 on spindle 14,- the spindle being mounted in a suitablebearing 15. The construction of the blower and the method of drivingsame form no part of my invention.

A series of openings 16 are provided around the upper end of the conduit3 into the chamber 9, and by preference the sum of the areas of theseopenings which are.uniformly distributed 'aroundthe chamber is equal tothe cross sectional area of the tube 10. The tube 10'is provided with anopening 17 between the chamber 9: and the blower, and 18 is a sleeveloosely mounted on the tubelO and provided withf an opening 19 adaptedto register with the opening 17, or by rotation of the sleeve to cut oifnd. restrict the size of this outlet from the pipe 10. The various partsare mounted in anydesired construction of standard 20 to properlysupport the operating parts.

The operation of the refiner will be evident from the foregoingdescription. The exhaust blower is started and the ground cofiee is fedinto the open funnel 1, if desired, direct from the mill. The coffeemixed with dust and chalf drops through the spout 2 and down through thetube 3, vwhere it is subjected to the air blast created by the blowerwhich draws the air in from the discharge end -8 of the conduit. As thech-afl' is lighter than the cofi'ee, some of it 'will be entrained bythe air current and --carried with it to be discharged by the blower at21. If there'was only one opening at the upper end of the conduit, thetendency of the air entering below would be to take a direct'angularpathto the tube and therefore in order to cause the current of air totraverse a vertical path and to be dist-ributed evenly about the wallsof and through the conduit 3, I provide the chamber 9, and

evenly distribute the openings 16 around the chamber, and to furtherprovide for this even distribution of current, I make the openingsof'uniform size with a combined area equal to the cross sectional areaof the tube 10. By this arrangement, the blower creates a partial.vacuum in. the upper end of the conduit which causes a practicallyuniform distribution of the air ascending through the conduit, so thatit operates with uniform efliciency on all sides of the coffee in itsdescent. As the cofiee falls through the conduit it strikes the apex ofthe cone 5 and is uniformly scattered over. the sides of the cone, theforce of the impact also serving to loosen the chaff which has atendency to adhere to the cofi'ee. The coifee falling over the cone' tothe annular discharge outlet also meets .a current of air of increasingspeed due to the gradual restriction of the outlet and the dust andchafli' which has descended with the coffee is here caught up andcarried upward out into the blower and is discharged while the refinedcofiee is caught in any convenient receptacle underneath the conduit 3.Should the force of the blast be insu-flicient to clean the coffee asmuch as desired, the opening 17 is restricted by rotating the sleeve 18,and which will thus, without changing the speed of the exhaust fans,force a large volume of air up through the conduit 3. The strength ofthe blast can thus be regulated as desired, and if too much finelyground cofiee is' taken off with the chafl by the blast, the user canadjust the amount of the suction to such compromise between amounts ofchaif and fine cofi'ee that are removed as may seem to him proper.

Having thus described my invention,-what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letter Patent, is:

In a coffee refiner, a conduit through which the cofl'ee is propelled bygravity, an.

exhaust blower to create an air blast throu h charge end of the conduit,an annular cham-, ber surroundin the up er end of the conduit with uniormly dlstributed openings into the conduit, and a tubular connectionbetween the blower and conduit provided with an opening, and a sleevemounted on the tubular connection, andprovided with an opening toregister with the tube opening, the sleeve being adapted to be moved onthe tube to, adjust the size of the tubular opening.

HERBERT L. J OHN $TON.

Attest:

W. W. Corn, J. M. SPENCER.

